One of the most common means of applying paint is with a paint roller assembly. The roller assembly generally consists of two separate units; a software portion having a cardboard core with polyester or lambs wool attached known as the roller sleeve, and a hardware portion composed of various metal and plastic parts known as the framework assembly. The framework assembly features a handle attached to a long metal shaft which makes several bends before becoming the axle around which a skeletal cylindrical structure rotates. The complete paint roller assembly is put together when the roller sleeve, which is hollow inside, is pushed all the way onto the cylindrical rotating structure. The cylindrical structure consists usually of two plastic end caps at opposite ends held together by several metal rods spaced at regular intervals along the inside perimeters of these end caps. The rods are flexed slightly outwardly in order to supply the necessary friction to keep the roller sleeve from falling off.
This nearly universal system of having the sleeves separate from the framework assembly has evolved because it is usually easier to clean and dry the sleeves when they are separate from the framework, and changing colors and textures is expedited when one can simply take off the used sleeve and replace it with a new one. The main problem with this system is that while it is generally a rather simple matter to slide a dry clean roller sleeve onto a roller frame assembly, the reverse process of removing a slippery paint soaked sleeve from the same assembly can be, and often is, an extremely messy affair. If hands are used to get a grip on the wet sleeve, the hands get totally covered with paint. Plastic disposable gloves can be used to try to escape this difficulty, but these sometimes can fail in supplying sufficient gripping power and also have to be discarded immediately after use. So messy is this problem that it is not uncommon to simply leave the wet sleeves on the frameworks until they dry out, making it even more difficult to eventually try to remove the sleeves. It is probable that every year hundreds of thousands of roller frame assemblies are needlessly tossed into the garbage because their owners were either unable or unwilling to remove the dried-on sleeves.